Voleurs
by Lunarmercury
Summary: We all know Hiei was adopted by bandits after he was thrown off of the glacier. And of course, we all know those bandits abandoned him. But... what if they hadn't?
1. Begin with a Plan

Well! Another… er… month… another fanfic! Or something. Yeah. I'm excited! I get to keep my dad's laptop until he decides he needs it because he never uses it! Yay! Well, I should have a better updating schedule this time, because when I publish this I should have the next three or four chapters typed up. I'm so excited! I love being one of the writers of a fanfic! It makes me want to dance! Anyway, I hope you enjoy. A couple of **notes** first.

**Note #1: Warnings: **Rape, violence, mentions of abuse, mentions of child abuse, etc.

**Note #2: **_This fic is rated T for a reason._ The rape "scenes" are the same as and no worse than the rape scene in Speak (owned by Laurie Halse Anderson and others) and the sex scenes in Memoirs of a Geisha (owned by Arthur Golden and others). Both of those books are in the Young Adult section of the library. Young Adult corresponds with T. _If you think my rating should be changed, please don't report it. Tell me. I will change the rating._ Thank you.

Note #3: There is an OC, but she is by no means a Mary-Sue. In fact, she has a minor role. 

**Note #4: **Voleurs means Thieves in French. Technically, it should be Les Voleurs, as a noun is never alone in French, but screw it. Americans don't care.

Disclaimer: No funny disclaimer here, folks. Move it along. I know none of you want to read "I don't own it, others do. I could look up whom, but I'm way too lazy. Not to mention bitter."

_Lunarmercury Presents:_

Voleurs Chapter One: Begin With a Plan 

Hiei slowly trudged his way to his tiny tent. He was sore, sorer than normal. Things hadn't been that rough for years, not until these new demons showed up, much harsher than the bandits were. They didn't seem to care that he had to fight the next morning. They were indifferent to the fact that he had to train and training was difficult with injuries of that nature and severity. They didn't care. They knew they were needed, and he was just a lowly nobody, despite the fact that he had one of the largest ki's in the group and was among the most skilled. No, that didn't concern them at all. He plopped down on the dirt floor with a weary sigh, carefully avoiding his brutalized rear, and massaged the bridge of his nose.

He didn't realize he had fallen into a light doze until he woke from it fifteen minutes later to the sound of cloth rustling. He immediately tensed, then relaxed when he recognized the familiar ki of his tentmate, Lebia. They had known each other since they were less than a year old. Her parents had been eaten when she was a week away from 7 months old. Given the success they had had with Hiei, then exactly 8 months old, they took her in too. She plopped down opposite of Hiei with a sigh much like his. Hiei took a quick stock of her: bright red hair, done in two braids, in disarray, blue eyes dull and only slightly slit open, red tunic and puffy pants torn and stained with blood, dirt and who knew what else, her red martial arts shoes wearing thin.

"Awfully rough tonight," she commented casually, voice hoarse. Hiei wasn't surprised – his voice was like that, too, from suppressing screams. She pulled off her shoes and began to rub her aching feet.

"Hn," Hiei agreed, pulling off his boots, too. He normally did it first thing, but this time he had fallen asleep first.

"They shouldn't be allowed to be that cruel. We need to be able to walk to fight."

"Peh. They'll do what they please. Our band is big, but not nearly big enough to take over the three worlds."

"Unfortunately. It's a stupid plan anyway, one that'll never work. The tantei are supposed to be incredibly powerful, and Reikai has a huge army to help them."

"True. But still, it's possible we'll win. From what I've heard, it's a good plan… Makai does have plenty of artifacts to help the quest, we just need to find them… everything falls easily from there." He leaned back, a slight smirk playing on his lips. "Oi. You remember when I said I'd leave and take over Nigenkai myself?"

Lebia laughed. "Your plan wasn't bad either… for a three year-old," she teased.

"… You think it'll really work?" She inquired softly.

"I'm not sure. Reikai's bound to have noticed the activity, and it's risky at best. But if we can just defeat the initial wave… it's possible we'll really win. Not that we'll be treated any better if we do…" he said wryly.

She sighed. "Tr-" She cut off suddenly, stifling a cry of pain, clutching her abdomen tightly.

"You're pregnant again." It wasn't a question. He reached for a dagger, preparing to perform yet another abortion. Lebia saw this and caught his wrist. He started, snapping his now wide eyes to hers, surprised.

"Please… I want to keep this one."

"Lebia, it'll never make it! And even if it does, what life would it have?"

She lowered her gaze to the ground, ashamed but determined.

"I know. I understand. But just once I'd like to keep my baby."

Hiei sighed and set the dagger down.

"Alright. But you know what happened before, how devastated you were…"

"I know," She repeated. "I remember." She sighed. "And I know that with the huge battle coming up it's not likely it'll survive. But I'd like to try." Then again, more softly. "I'd like to try."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The room was large, as befitted the status of a god – even just a child one. The seeming toddler sat in a large, plush chair, pacifier in his mouth, three best tantei before him.

"You've all made arrangements for the mission ahead, I assume?"

"I told Keiko I had to go on a mission, but it sure would've saved me from a lot of yelling if I knew what the mission was," Yuusuke griped.

"Yeah, same goes for my sis," Kuwabara added in.

Koenma cleared his throat. "Yes, well, I clear that up for you now."

"Ah, come on Koenma, we all know that you never really tell us the entire mission." Yuusuke said.

"Actually, Yuusuke, he normally does a pretty good job of that…" Kurama pointed out.

Koenma cleared his throat again. "Yes, well… This mission involves going to the Makai. It has been brought to the attention of Reikai that there is a rather large mass of bandits there that has joined forces with a veritable army of youkai, and they are planning to take over the three worlds. They will be collecting artifacts to do that, and for the planning and location, they will all be gathered in one place. It is during this time that you three and an army that Reikai will provide will swoop down and eliminate them all. There is no room for failure. Is this clear?"

Kurama spoke up. "What are their weaknesses?"

Koenma coughed. "We have not had much time to investigate them beyond what they're planning. Also, with such a large mass, it is hard to know strengths and weaknesses. However, at the current moment, we believe them to be rather uncoordinated. Your supplies are over there. Please, act with all haste."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The firelight flickered off of the trees surrounding the clearing. The wood in the fire crackled softly, but emitted no smoke. The tantei each sat on a separate log, their bag and sleeping roll in front of them.

"This seems like a pretty big mission," Yuusuke remarked quietly.

"That is why we have an army backing us up… but yes, it is a rather serious mission," Kurama responded.

Kuwabara sighed. "Why are youkai always trying to take over the world?" He complained.

"For a youkai, there is nothing more important that power. If a youkai were to rule even one world, he could gain control of the others. It would still be hard, but much, much easier than normal," Kurama explained. He sighed. "I do believe this mission will be a bit of a challenge."

"Aw, c'mon, it'll be easy for us," Yuusuke boasted. The other two smiled.

"Come," Kurama said. "We had better rest up. It's certainly a big battle tomorrow."

Yuusuke and Kuwabara snuggled under the covers, while Kurama slid of the log and leaned against it, keeping a sharp eye out for any wandering youkai.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next morning dawned bright and early, clear under the red sky. It was a perfect day for fighting.

"Ready?" Asked Yuusuke. The other two nodded.

They all looked at the enormous army Rekai had managed to gather.

"Good."

They began the short march to the bandits' campsite, where their opponents were ready and waiting.

* * *

Sooooo? How'd ya like the first chapter of my **new** fic? I apologize for OOCness and strained dialogue. 

"He reached for a dagger, preparing to perform yet another abortion…" The baby wouldn't survive their lifestyle. It's easier (physically and emotionally) on the mother if he performs it ahead of time. I don't mean to offend anyone by it…

I actually have another fic in the works, but it's still in the idea and planning stage. Besides, I don't want to work on more than one fic at a time. Heck, one's hard enough, I can't imagine how I'd handle two….

Please review! You can't imagine how happy it makes me. Seriously, after my two one shots got reviewed (at once!), especially when the one hadn't been reviewed at all, you can't imagine the euphoria I was in. So please, even if it's to tell me my writing's crap and I should never show my face in the fanficcing community again (in which case I'll ignore you but still be happy you reviewed!), please, please, review!

This chapter was edited 8/17/05


	2. Only Survivor

Second Chapter! School is OVER! I'm so happy! I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far.

Warnings for this chapter: miscarriage (mentioned in passing… not meant to be callous, just like it would be in battle), gore, gore, and oh, did I mention gore? Just in the first part, though. And I might make it mild. Maybe.

Once more (and for the last time this fic) I don't own it, I never will own it… but hey, Christmas is still about 5 1/2 months away. I don't suppose anyone could save up and give it to me?

P. S. Thanks my ONE reviewer. (despite the fact that there were far more HITS)

_Lunarmercury Presents:_

Voleurs Chapter Two: Only Survivor 

The battle raged fiercely on all sides. Limbs were flying, as was the occasional head, and blood made the ground slick where the remaining fighters stood. Kurama slipped on an intestine, dodged a splatter of body fluid, and lashed out with his rose whip, adding to the potluck of body parts. Kurama wasn't exactly sure how well the battle was going. He was fairly certain they were winning, but he saw a fair amount of Reikai's soldiers lying on the ground – or at least pieces of them. He slit open another few youkai with a swing of his whip, thorns slashing them open, guts spilling to the ground. He engaged in a more difficult hand to hand battle with a stronger, very vaguely humanoid demon. Punches and kicks flew, and he felt a dagger slash his side, warm blood spilling down, making him suppress a shudder. He suddenly drew a seed from his hair, grew it into a leaf blade, and plunged it into the attackers forehead, effectively ending both the battle and his opponent's life. A quick glance around revealed Yuusuke to be doing quite well. Kuwabara, however, was not doing so well, as he was currently being forced to fight a girl. Kurama sighed. Kuwabara and his honor code. He remembered what he had told him: "She's a demon and she's trying to kill you. It doesn't matter that she's a she." However, this particular demon didn't seem to be trying to kill him. She seemed to be holding back. It didn't really matter though, and Kuwabara seemed able to overcome his honor code, giving the red-haired, red clad girl a deep blow to the abdomen. Kurama stiffened, smelling very well the distinct scent of a placenta.

'She was pregnant?' Kurama was horrified. But there was no way they could have known, nothing they could have done… Kurama realized a very good reason for Kuwabara's honor code.

He saw a short, black-clad demon with tall, spiky black hair come to her side. He seemed to be protecting her, and fought with Kuwabara. The unknown demon was a better swordsman by far, and he drove Kuwabara away before being blown away by a blast of energy.

Hiei watched Lebia out of the corner of his eye as he fought. She was currently fighting a tall, orange-haired human, who seemed to be holding back.

'Good,' he decided. 'More chance for the baby to survive.'

Right after he thought that, all chances of the baby surviving were blown away. The human struck straight at her abdomen, and though Hiei raced as fast as possible, there were too many demons and spirits in the way: Lebia's stomach split open, and the life giving sac that her baby rested in broke and spilled. Hiei was there in a heartbeat, forcing Kuwabara away. He strained with his metal sword against the human's spirit one, battling for several minutes before forcing him away. He met too bright, stunned blue eyes and just barely caught the whisper "My baby…" before he was blown away by an attack of bright blue light, propelled far into the forest, where he broke through several trees before finally slamming into a boulder and being thrown into oblivion.

Yuusuke fired a spirit gun into a mass of youkai, seeing several being blown far, far away. He caught sight of bright red hair at the edge and, alarmed, took a closer look. He relaxed upon seeing that it was not Kurama but rather a girl. He then tensed again, his heart reaching out to her upon seeing that she was crying and clutching a deep stomach wound, mouthing something over and over again. Despite the lip reading lessons Kurama had been giving him, he still couldn't figure it out. He shrugged it off, going back to the battle, firing spirit guns and engaging in hand to hand.

Finally, it was done.

"What should we do now?" Yuusuke queried, wiping some blood off of himself. He started to walk forward, but tripped on a body part. "Ew…"

Kurama chuckled. "I think we should call Koenma," was Kuwabara's suggestion, disgust plainly written on his face at the state of their battlefield.

Kurama suggested something else. "We should probably look for survivors." He surveyed the battlefield. "Though from the looks of things there won't be many. Yuusuke, you and Kuwabara search the battlefield. Go through carefully; don't mistake an unconscious person for a dead one. I'll search the forest."

"It seems like the forest would be the job for two people," Yuusuke said.

Kurama responded with a smile. "The plants will help me." He disappeared into the forest.

Kurama pushed through the growth. He had found plenty of bodies, but no one alive. Both the plants and his nose were telling him that there was blood ahead, lots of it. The plants were telling him it belonged to someone still alive, but they had been wrong before. Kurama pushed through one last branch before coming upon a still figure slumped against a boulder.

'It's the boy in black – the one who was protecting that pregnant' he winced. 'Formerly pregnant girl.'

He approached. The boy smelled very young – no more than the early 20's, he'd guess. Kurama put two fingers in front of the slightly parted lips, then gave a sigh of relief when he felt a breath of warm air hit them. He was beginning to be afraid that he had been sent on a failed mission. He was about to carry him in a piggyback style, then decided that with the injuries he had, or at least the injuries Kurama could see, carrying him bridal style would be best. Besides, it would've been hard to get him on his back alone.

Kurama returned carrying the youkai in his arms, the small head lolling against his shoulder, the light, petite frame easily lifted.

"Glad you found someone," Yuusuke said. "We didn't."

Kurama nodded. "Let's head back to the camp. We could all use a bath, and we need to call Koenma." The others agreed wholeheartedly.

"Want me to carry him?" Yuusuke offered.

Kurama declined. "I'm fine, thank you."

They trudged back to their campsite.

"He looks like he's gonna need some new clothes," Kuwabara observed.

"Hai, he will… Yuusuke, do you mind if I use yours? You're the closest size to him…"

"Sure," Yuusuke agreed. "I'm gonna go take that bath now."

They all pulled out a change of clothes and spent the better part of the hour cleaning all the blood, gore, and other generally unpleasant things off of them. They then congregated at the campsite. Yuusuke pulled out his communicator and called Koenma. The small ruler's face popped up on the screen, looking annoyed.

"I've been waiting to hear from you for the past three hours! What have you been doing!"

Yuusuke replied with an equally irate look. "Who says we were done with the battle?"

"I had an army come back, Yuusuke."

"Oh. Right. Heh heh." Yuusuke rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Anyways, we were looking for survivors."

"Did you find any?"

"One."

"Show him to me."

Yuusuke obediently angled the communicator so the face of the currently unconscious youkai was visible by Koenma.

"Humanoid," Koenma observed.

"Yeah. So, what do we do with him?"

"Interrogate him. See what he knows. There have been rumors that there were more of them, the real masters. They stayed safely off of the battlefield. They might be sending youkai to your school to spy on you." Koenma sighed, knowing what he said might next might cause problems. "Since he looks human… add him to the group."

* * *

Woo! Betcha saw that coming! No, really. It was pretty obvious…

Wow, my last chapter was longer than this. –sweatdrops- I thought for sure this chapter would be longer… Although without author's notes they're about the same, and without scene breaks I think this one's longer. Oh, well. Look for the next one soon!

This chapter edited 8/17/05


	3. Choosing a Home

Chapter three! I'm sorry I took so long to update. I went to camp for two weeks, then my grandparents were there for ten days immediately afterwards, and then I went to Maine for a day. Lots of traveling. Very exhausting. Anyway… Did you like the last chapter? Did you? Hope you reviewed…

Speaking of which, thanks ryougabriellucile, my ONE LONE REVIEWER. I love you! Not really. You know what I mean. But I have hits! People! You must review! It makes my day!

**Warnings:** Mentions of abuse, mentions of rape, OOCness (as always), and possibly (but not probably) other stuff.

**Notes: **If Hiei seems toned down more than he should be, it's because he's hurt, he's confused and he knows they could have killed him by now. Because they not only haven't hurt him but are helping him, and because they're being nice to him, he feels indebted. He's suspicious, but he's more relaxed and feels that they can be trusted.

And without further ado, the fic!

_Lunarmercury Presents:_

Voleurs Chapter Three: Choosing a Home 

The natural light was beginning to dwindle, and Kurama had already built up the fire they would use for cooking as well as light, though for light it was unnecessary as of yet. Kuwabara and Yuusuke had gone to hunt dinner, as well as search for other possible survivors. Kurama knew that they would be gone for quite some time, scouring the woods for youkai and then catching dinner was definitely time consuming. That was good, though, as it would probably take him some time to clean and bandage the little youkai in his care. He had already heated the water and lain out all of his healing supplies, as well as growing several healing plants. He had quite a few rolls of bandages and spare cloths at the ready as well. He hoped he was giving the medical attention in time to prevent infections. He was already regretting the time it had taken to bathe, have the others accept the fact that they were having a new addition to the team, build up a fire, send the others off on their job, and lay everything out. He dipped a rag into the still hot water and lowered it to his face.

Three rags later the demon's face was clean, pale skin shining in the firelight. His features stood out clearly: a button nose, small, petal lips, long, thick lashes, bangs obscuring his forehead. Kurama frowned upon seeing a gash running the length of that pale forehead. It looked older than the skirmish, but only a day or two older, and it looked deliberate, not something done in the heat of battle. Kurama carefully cleansed it, applying a disinfecting salve that would quicken his healing. It was a nasty gash. His frown deepened. Nasty though it was, he knew was almost certain that it should have healed by now. A suspicion began to form.

Kurama drew a seed out of his hair, one used to check for poisons. He grew it into something suspiciously like the needles used to draw blood, then placed it into the vein that ran down the inside of his forearm and extracted a sample of his blood. The thick, maroon liquid filled the clear tube, then instantly turned blue. He had tested positive for poison. Kurama would run more tests later, but he was fairly certain he knew what the poison was. It slowed his healing and lowered his resistance to infection. No doubt they had given it to all the lower ranking demons, in hopes that the injuries they sustained in battle would be enough to kill them before they turned over information. This meant that Kurama would have to be even more thorough in his cleansing and apply disinfectant to every cut, no matter how small.

Kurama began again, this time cleaning the neck, revealing injuries Kurama knew the youkai hadn't sustained in battle. He was interrupted by a small sound and a stir. Kurama immediately pulled a sedative from his hair, but when the youkai made no further movements or sounds, he went back to his work. The movement and sound repeated, and Kurama realized that, even though he was unconscious, the youkai was aware someone was touching his neck – something no youkai liked. Kurama finished quickly, then stopped to puzzle over the marks. It looked as if someone had held a dagger to his throat, and other bruises seemed to indicate a strangle hold. A theory was already formed, but he decided to wait for more evidence. He cleaned the head, winding bandages over the gash on his forehead as well as the one more serious injury on his head.

He quickly grew a leaf blade, then carefully cut the black tank top off of the body. Kurama's eyes widened at what he saw when he removed the shirt. Hanging by a chain was a round, blue gem – a Koorime tear gem. And not just any tear gem, he realized, a birth tear gem. It would fetch quite a price on the black market, and vaguely, Kurama wondered how many of the thieves he lived with the demon had had to kill in order to keep that tear gem. He felt the urge to touch it, finger it, see just what a birth gem felt like, but he knew that the demon would know, and the last thing he needed was to touch something that he was sure the demon prized.

'Wait…' Kurama remembered something. 'Yukina showed me her gem once… said her brother would have one like it…' His eyes narrowed in thought. 'That means one of two things. One possibility was that he had killed Yukina's brother and stolen the tear gem. Unlikely – he'd have sold it by now, not still be wearing it. It's much more likely that I've…' his eyes widened in surprise. 'That I've found her brother!' He wasn't sure what to do – he'd have to let the youkai know he knew, and that his sister was safe. Then he shook himself. 'If I delay much longer, Yukina might not have a brother anymore.'

His eyes looked at the work ahead of him and he gasped again. Not a patch of skin could be seen, he was so covered in mud, blood, gore, and other things.

'This is going to take quite a few pots of water,' he thought, wincing.

He then cleansed the rest of his upper body, bandaging when he needed to, but leaving his back for later, so leaving his torso unbound.

'He's so skinny,' Kurama observed. 'I can see all of his ribs. They must barely feed him… One more thing to support my theory.' He sighed internally. 'Something makes me doubt he had any choice in what he did.'

Kurama's eyes traveled to the next area he had to clean: the youkai's lower half. He swallowed hard, then began to unbuckle the pants. He wasn't shy, but he was afraid of the youkai waking up in the middle of it and murdering him. He was also afraid of what he might find there – there was no telling what these demons might have done to him. He slid the pants off, then winced, seeing teeth marks where none should have been. He cleaned the less intimate parts first, leaving out the inner thighs, then removed the second, new pot of water from the fire. He would want something very sterile to clean where he was about to. He dipped a new rag in the fresh water, then began to carefully, gently clean the youkai's inner thigh. The young demon immediately twitched, and made a strangled, vaguely frightened sound. Kurama grew a flower and placed it beside him, ensuring a deep sleep where he wouldn't feel Kurama's touch. Kurama gingerly finished cleaning him. He then observed what he saw. The worst of the damage definitely wasn't inflicted in battle. It was deep claw marks on both inner thighs. There was also a long gash running the length of his right leg that it seemed had been inflicted in battle. He finished observing the injuries and taping gauze patches over the ones that were smaller yet still serious enough to warrant protection, then turned him over and cleaned his back. He had definitely been torn inside – it was obvious that he wasn't valued highly.

'But he has such high ki…' Kurama mused. As he thought he bandaged him, removed the flower and set out Yuusuke's clothes. 'I don't understand why they wouldn't place him higher up. He had to be of the strongest ones they had…' He carefully dressed him, then set about cleaning everything up, waiting for the youkai to awaken.

Hiei woke slowly, a sweet, heavy scent lingering in his nostrils. The first thing he was aware of was pain, a dull ache accentuated by sharp pangs all throughout his body. The second thing he was aware of was a rustling sound, someone moving about, putting something in something else. He realized that he had absolutely no idea where he was, nor who the person moving about was. He became aware of the fact that he was clean and bandaged everywhere, including places he'd rather have not been touched. He also realized that whoever had done the cleaning had left his tear gem intact – something he would not have expected. He was lying on something that, while not soft, was softer than what he was used to, and the blanket he was covered with was very soft. It was also very warm – whoever had put it on must have realized how low his ki was. The spicy, familiar scent of fire pervaded the area. He was dressed in clothes that were too large for him, the edges rolled up and the fabric baggy on his starved form. Hiei cracked open his eyes, his gaze landing upon a redhead that was currently putting something in a medium sized cloth bag. That was the person who had cleaned and bandaged him, he was certain.

'He was one of the main soldiers in the fight… a Spirit Detective. Where are his friends? They obviously want information… what'll they do when they find out I don't know anything? Throw me in jail, probably… They don't care that I didn't really have a choice. But… He didn't take my tear gem, and he didn't… take advantage of me…' Hiei puzzled over whether to trust him or not. He had a feeling that he could, and his instincts were seldom wrong. He'd just hate for this to be one of the few times they were.

Apparently he had forgotten to keep his breathing pattern right, because the redhead turned around, smiled and cheerfully said "Awake? Good. I'm Kurama. You are?"

"Why should I give you my name?" Hiei spat, pushing himself to a sitting position.

The redhead – Kurama, he had said – responded with a different comment before answering his question. "You shouldn't sit up yet." He sighed as Hiei ignored him. "Well, you don't have to tell me your name, but it'd be rather irritating for both me and you to have to refer to you as 'that youkai we found.'"

Hiei scowled. "Hiei."

"Hiei. That's a nice name." He paused and seemed to ponder something. "There's a girl, back in Nigenkai… a demon. She'd been traveling around Makai for a while before. Her name is Yukina. I was wondering if you'd heard of her?"

Hiei immediately stiffened at his words.

"I see you have. I don't suppose you'd know anything about her brother?" From his words, it was obvious that Kurama knew.

"If you tell _anyone_ I _will_ kill you slowly and painfully."

"My lips are sealed." Kurama promised. However, the youkai seemed not to understand.

"What?" Hiei demanded.

"Oh, of course, you don't speak the slang. It means I won't tell anyone." Hiei seemed satisfied at that.

"Where am I?"

"You're at the Reikai Tantei's campsite. Whatever you can tell us would be nice, but if you can't tell us much, that's fine. It'd be best not to aggravate your wounds, you've been poisoned. They'll take a while to heal, even with the salve. Koenma has appointed you a member of the Tantei, you'll be living with one of us and going to our school." He nearly flinched at the glare he received, it was so fierce. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about it. You could take it up with Koenma, but he'd probably just put you in jail."

"Where are the other prisoners?" was Hiei's only question.

Kurama met his gaze coolly, unflinchingly, but he knew the pain what he was about to say would bring. 'That girl…' "You were the only survivor."

Hiei's eyes widened momentarily, then narrowed. "Liar…" he hissed.

Kurama sighed. "It's the truth." Pain flashed through the diminutive youkai's eyes, but he didn't express it. "I would prefer that you not think of yourself as a prisoner."

"Can I leave?" He queried.

"No…" Kurama answered reluctantly. He cut of Hiei before he could say anything. "But we're not going to be your prison guards. We're going to help you, not hurt you – or at least, I am."

Hiei merely hned. "You said I had to stay with someone."

"Yes." Kurama nodded. "Do you know anything about the other two?"

"Some. Enough to know I don't want to stay with them."

Kurama suppressed a grin. He had been hoping the youkai would stay with him. The demon needed friendship. "Well, that just leaves me."

"What's your home like?"

"I have a mother, a step-father and a step-brother."

"What happened to your father?"

"He died when I was young."

"Do they know?"

"Know what? That I'm a spirit detective?"

"And a youkai."

"You know about that then. They don't. They don't know anything about anything unusual… We'll have to pretend you're an… exchange student or something."

"What's that?"

"Do you know what school is?"

"Sort of…"

"Well, it's when someone from a school in a different country comes to visit a school in another country for a little while. It's to learn about a different culture." Kurama explained.

Hiei looked like he was thinking. "Do they normally show up without any forewarning?"

Kurama winced. "No… I'll have to think of something… Maybe the person who was supposed to take you had to move schools and if someone didn't take you you'd have been sent back?"

"Why wouldn't you have mentioned it before?" Hiei pointed out.

"My mother had just gotten married… She would have been so busy with moving and adjusting… I wouldn't have wanted to bother her with it."

Hiei nodded. It sounded believable.

"Reikai will be checking up on us for the first three days, longer if they think it's needed. You'll have to go to school, obviously, five days out of seven – that's--"

Hiei cut him off. "I know what a week is."

Kurama nodded. "You'll have to get tutoring so you actually can participate in school. Koenma will have to alter the principal's memory. When we get back, in the evening – it'll be a Friday evening – you'll get a tour of the school. I think that's everything for now."

They heard a snapping in the woods, growing closer, and the scent of freshly killed animals drifted towards them. Two shadows could be seen.

"That would be Yuusuke and Kuwabara," Kurama paused. "I won't tell them," he remarked quietly. He didn't say what he was talking about. He didn't need to. "We won't do anything like that. Don't worry."

Hiei hned, but looked appreciative.

The two came crashing into the clearing a moment after Kurama spoke.

"Hey, he's awake." Yuusuke remarked to Kurama.

Kurama sweatdropped. "This is Hiei. He'll be staying with me."

"Fine by me. He probably wouldn't like my place anyway." Kuwabara nodded in agreement to Yuusuke's statement.

Kurama put the meat on to cook.

Yay! Another chapter! Hope y'all are enjoying reading it so far, because I enjoy writing it! Cliché as that may be, it's very true. This chapter was longer than my other two by a whole two pages! How happy I am! On another note entirely, my eyes sting because I was chopping onions earlier for dinner and I have a reeeeeally bad reaction to onions.

Keep reading! And remember, where you read, you should review!


	4. Homecoming

**Notes:** Ha! I scoff at your updating schedule.

Review responses at the end of the chapter

**Warnings:** none

_Lunarmercury Presents:_

Voleurs 

**Chapter Four: Homecoming**

"Yes, I realize this is a great burden… yes… thank you, Okaasan… thank you… yes, we're coming right home… I'll get him settled in on my own, don't worry… We'll talk to the principle very soon… yes… thank you again Okaasan… Love you… Good bye." Kurama sighed and hung up the phone.

"Okay… everything's all set."

The gang walked out of the door, heading for the portal to nigenkai and the temple where the ice maiden they had earlier rescued resided. On the way out, Hiei picked up the medium sized, black duffel bag that held some human clothes as well as other "basic supplies" that Hiei thought completely frivolous.

The room holding the portal was bright white tile all around – floor, ceiling, walls – completely blank, except for a vivid chartreuse blob in the exact middle of the room. Hiei looked at it with faint, almost imperceptible, apprehension. He had not enjoyed the first portal at all, and the second one undoubtedly wasn't any better.

The group stepped into the portal with Botan guiding them. As he followed Kurama into the portal, Hiei felt a faint wave of nausea overcome him. It was a small tunnel, with streaks of color constantly passing by. It unbalanced him, threw him off – traveling between dimensions was odd, and something he would have preferred to stay away from. It was awful for a fight, disorienting and prone to optical illusions. If there was a hole in those walls, who knew what dwelt there?

They set down onto solid ground at the top of a huge staircase. Hiei inwardly breathed a sigh of relief at being on solid ground again, but at the same time was very displeased to be in the world of humans. They all trudged inside. Kurama discreetly whispered to him "This is where Yukina lives." The whisper was answered by a small nod, and the exchange went unnoticed by the others.

"Oh! You're all back! Come, I have a room set up…" She led them away to a room full of bandages and salves and promptly sat them down and started healing Yuusuke. She had given no indication that she had noticed the newcomer as of yet and it came as something of a surprise when she spoke up out of nowhere.

"Who is this?"

Hiei was about to reply, but Yuusuke beat him to it.

"This is a survivor from our last mission."

"A survivor?"

"Yeah, we fought a band of thieves. Koenma said to bring him back, so we did."

"Oh?" She turned to face Hiei. "What's your name?"

"Hiei…" He muttered.

"Hiei? I hope you enjoy staying here." She gave a slight bow of greeting. Hiei blinked, a bit confused, but realized it must be the Japanese way of greeting. He nodded back.

As Yukina continued to heal the others (she was currently on Kuwabara, who was grinning goofily and blushing), Hiei studied her. They had the same build, though she was perhaps an inch shorter than him, and similarly colored eyes, though hers were much larger. Other than that, she looked like a Koorime, including wearing their traditional kimono. She had apparently studied healing, probably on the glacier, and was friends with the detectives. She wore her hiruiseki outside of her kimono.

Though he studied her at length, he didn't speak to her again, except to bid her goodbye as he and Kurama left. He had made up his mind not to tell her he was her brother when he first started to kill years ago, and seeing her had had an odd effect on him. It made him yearn to tell her, yet also made him more determined that he would never tell her. She was too different. They were from separate worlds, and maybe he could get to know her a little, and he could certainly guard her while he was in the human world. But she didn't need a guardian, and he hopefully wouldn't stay in the human world long. Therefore, it was best if he didn't get to know her well, didn't form a bond of friendship. The bond of twin was already pulling him to tell her and stay with her.

The walk back to Kurama's house was silent until they approached. Even then, the silence was broken only by a soft "we're here." Kurama seemed to sense that Hiei needed time to think, and Hiei decided that his first impression of Kurama was right. He could be trusted, he wasn't pressing him, and he didn't to say a thing about telling Yukina. They turned in and walked through the door silently.

"My family is otherwise engaged." Kurama's soft voice cut through the stillness. "My mother said she'd come home, but I told her we'd be fine."

Hiei recalled that part of the conversation. "I'll get him settled in on my own," or something like that. He gave a nod of appreciation. He didn't particularly feel like meeting his family right then.

"When will I meet them?" He inquired.

"Tomorrow at breakfast. I'm going to make a sort of fluffy bread… does that sound okay?"

Hiei shrugged. They strode up the steps and traveled down the hallway. Kurama stopped at the second door on the left.

"This is your room. It's right next to mine. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask." The last sentence was pointless, as he knew that Hiei would most definitely hesitate to ask for anything. "The furniture is all set up, we just need to unpack your duffel bag and you'll be all set." He was met once again with the blank expression he had gotten when he had used the phrase "My lips are sealed." Apparently he knew Japanese, but not the slang. "It means… oh, how to explain this… basically, I meant that then we'll be done preparing your room." Hiei nodded dubiously.

They made short work of the duffel bag, it having practically nothing in it. There was nothing but jeans and black shirts, with the occasional blue shirt thrown in, as well as two pairs of shoes, one formal, one a pair of tennis shoes.

"The school technically requires a uniform, but it's a high school, so they don't have any uniforms your size… they're ordering one, but until then, you'll have to wear the clothes Reikai gave you." Kurama explained.

"Fine."

"These are some tests from the Reikai… it's to learn how much I need to teach you so it'll seem like you have been in school all your life."

"All my life? I thought human children took longer to develop. How could they have been in school all their lives?" asked a thoroughly perplexed Hiei.

"Not all of your life, just since you were… Five is the typical age to start."

There was silence for perhaps half an hour. Then Hiei handed his tests to Kurama to look over.

"I finished." He paused, then queried "What country am I supposed to be from?"

"Estonia. It's a very small country on the edge of Russia."

"So… I speak Russian?" Hiei was beginning to wonder how much Reikai had about him on file.

"Yes. Oh… do you know Russian? You learned Japanese, but…" A worried look passed over his face.

"I know Russian," Hiei assured. "What would you have done if I didn't?"

"I don't know," Kurama admitted. "I think Reikai has something that could have taught it to you or put the knowledge in your mind, but I'm not sure."

There was silence again as Kurama graded the tests.

"Well, you did well on English… how do you know so much about human languages?" Kurama questioned. "You can speak Japanese almost perfectly except for your accent, and you got every single question about the English language right… except for idioms. And you don't understand Japanese idioms either. Where did you learn?"

Hiei hesitated. It was only a little, insignificant piece of his past, but still…

"When I was six," he began, and his voice was much unlike normal. It was quiet, and hesitant. "I found a hatchling, a baby dragon not more than a few weeks old. He was lost, and hurt. Dragons are currently dwindling, though they should be growing again in a couple centuries. Still… I like dragons. They're noble. Fierce. I had no will to contribute to their downfall. So, I wrapped his injuries and brought him home to his mother. She was very grateful. She said she was in debt to me, and dragons hate being in debt. She gave me, among other things, a drop of her blood. Dragon blood gives the gift of languages, spoken and not. It also introduced me to the concept of heat. It's not just because dragon blood is hot in temperature. Its magic makes it hot, even for a fire demon.

"A dragon's blood imparts the knowledge of every single language that ever existed, and when the languages change, the knowledge grows to encompass that. It does not, however, include slang, idioms, anything like that."

"Interesting…" Kurama murmured. "I thought that only a myth."

Hiei shook his head. "Perhaps you should continue with the results?"

Kurama blinked. "Yes, of course. You actually did quite badly on everything else… We'd better start now." He glanced at the clock. "We still have a couple of hours before you get to tour the school. We'll start with… literature. Can you read every language, too?"

"And write."

Kurama sighed. "_That's a large burden taken off,"_ he thought. _"Though I still have my work cut out for me. Still, he seems intelligent enough. Hopefully he'll learn quickly."_

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Three hours later, Kurama was showing Hiei around the school. He had shown him the classroom they would be in, as well as the locker he would be using. They didn't have the combination yet, though, so Hiei couldn't practice opening it. Or at least, he couldn't practice opening it the right way, though he did break into it in less than ten seconds.

"You know, it takes most kids longer than that to enter their combination." Hiei shrugged.

"How fast could you break in?" Kurama then demonstrated on a random locker, breaking in in less than five seconds. They had to cut their escapades short as a teacher staying after hours turned the corner.

They reached the principals office and Kurama went in to talk to the principal, Hiei staying outside the door. He paid very little attention to what he was saying, though he notice when Kurama made an excuse about him not participating in gym, saying he had hurt his leg, but not badly enough not to come to the school anyway. It was true enough.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hiei was actually rather glad when the reached his host's home.

"_I must be hurt more badly than I thought… just walking to and from the school made me tired… And my leg hurts… stupid soldier," Hiei_ thought.

Hiei changed into the night garments they had given him (another stupid frivolity, in his opinion, though the jeans were far less comfortable than his own pants), black silk with a short-sleeved top and long pants. He went into Kurama's room. The door was open, though Kurama shut it as soon as he came in.

Kurama checked his injuries in silence, reapplying salve and bandages, seeming to sense the youkai's weariness. He knew that that would only make him more irritable and less willing to talk. He would start a conversation later.

* * *

Yay! Another chapter! The next chapter is really (I mean _really_) short. I'm also looking for a beta reader. If anyone would like to volunteer?

**Review Responses: Shadow, Red Kitsune Flames, Superiorpaperclip, And Kodamy: **Thank you all so much! You're just lumped together because you didn't have a question for me to answer. No offense meant. –sweatdrops-

**Lunareclipse24:** yeah, most people do leave him with the Koorime. Being kicked out of the bandits was a major turning point, so I don't know why I've never seen one about it… but I'm sure there are more where he stays. As for the friend… yeah, I like her. Of course I like her, she's my character, but… you'll see!

**Lex:** Yes, he did have a truly horrible past. I'm just trying to tell it more realistically. As someone once said "You don't get an attitude like his from a happy childhood."

**Kracker Lace: **Ack! It didn't look that way in the preview! It should be fixed now… And yes, Hiei is a cutie. -grins- And yes, my authors notes to tend to turn out very cheerful and very hyper… don't know why. Cliffies… I'm bad at those, though as we get actual plot, there should be some. Those are in later chapters, though. And as for Lebia not aborting her baby… she'd just had to get rid of so many, she really wanted to try. She should have known that something like that would happen, and Hiei warned her, but she just wasn't being rational. And yes, Hiei and Kurama belong together. They're best friends! They can't be apart! They have to be friends! They just… understand each other. But I don't know how it'll work out here. (I lie. I do know. But I'm not telling you because you're probably smart enough to figure it out.) wow. Long response. Ah, well, long review, long response.


	5. Meetings and Greetings

**Notes: **Hiya peeps! Yes, yes, longer than normal. School just started up and I'm going to have lots and lots of homework. Hopefully I'll be able to type up chapters on Saturday and post them on Wednesday or Thursday, but we'll see. This is an extremely short chapter. Review responses at the end of the chapter.

**Warning: **This chapter contains some material that some readers might not find suitable. If you don't like it, don't read it.

_Lunarmercury Presents:_

**Voleurs**

**Chapter Five: Meetings and Greetings  
**

_A small child lay on the ground. His skin could not properly be seen underneath the thick layer of mud, blood, and other unpleasant things. One blood red eye was open, the other quickly blackening and swelling shut. Fresh blood ran down his face and body, he could feel bruises blossoming all over his tiny frame. His jet black hair had a white starburst now spattered with crimson. Several bones were broken, one shoulder had been dislocated. Older, taller youkai were crowded about the child, all eager to see his taming and, possibly, his death. They had all had a part in his beating, gleeful to see this youkai put in his place, to hurt this one who had killed many of their members. _

_The leader stepped forward. Though certainly not the tallest, he was the strongest, and the only one in the camp still stronger than the bloodied child, the only one the little one was afraid of. _

"_So." His voice was deep, amused, smug. He had been the one to inflict the most damage upon the young one. "What do you say now, little one?" He lifted up the tiny head with his boot, then, with a sharp crack, sent the child sailing through the air, landing heavily upon the ground a few meters back. The bairn weakly rolled over onto his stomach and spat blood out._

_The leader stepped up to the child again. "Will you obey us?"_

_The child looked up at him. He had been asked that question many times and always before he had said no. But now, now he was so battered and broken and so close to death he just couldn't defy anymore. _

"_Ye- yes," He stuttered through a blood filled mouth. It would be the last time he conceded anything. _

_The leader smirked. "Let's make sure of that…" The cruel grin stayed on his face as they all began to advance._

Hiei woke with a start, breathing heavily. He hadn't had that dream in a few months. It was always either the first time he had been raped or, more often, when he was thrown off the glacier. His body and a glance out the window told him it was around six o'clock, no more than five minutes either way.

He slid out of his bed and padded silently into the hall, going next door to Kurama's room. He carefully eased open the door.

Kurama woke to someone poking on the shoulder. He blearily opened his eyes. He tensed and then realized why he hadn't immediately woken when the door opened. It was his new guest.

"_But why is he coming in here so early? And why is he waking me up? He was so tired last night from his injuries, I was sure he'd sleep late."_

"Yes, Hiei?" He questioned, somewhat annoyed at being woken up. He had been looking forward to sleeping in, too. Crimson eyes blinked down at him.

"It's six o'clock. Don't we have to get up for that school thing of yours?" He looked kind of annoyed too. Kurama guessed he didn't really want to go somewhere where he would be cooped up in a room all day with humans.

Kurama sighed inwardly, upset at being awoken, but not willing to let the youkai see it. Undoubtedly Hiei thought that he might be mistreated here since he was still a bit weak and the new injuries could be excused.

"It's Saturday. We don't have school." Hiei blinked in surprise.

"_Wait… I think he did say something about that." _He was slightly embarrassed at forgetting, but chose not to show it.

"Well, it's not a bi- it's not important. We can get up anyway." Kurama barely caught himself. Hiei had learned a little bit of slang – he was a fast learner – but he still didn't know much of it. He knew "get up," which was only a bit of an idiom, but he didn't know what a "big deal" was.

"Sit here," he instructed as he indicated a spot on the bed. "I'll check your injuries."

Hiei sat on the indicated spot, removing his shirt and rolling up his loose pants. Kurama returned with new gauze, bandages, salves, and cleaning creams, as well as several clean cloths. He carefully unwound the bandages around his arms and torso, cleaned them off, and reapplied the salve before bandaging them again.

"They're not healing very fast, so I put a different type of salve on," Kurama explained. "Hopefully it'll work, but if it doesn't, then there're a couple of other types I can try. If those fail, I can always make a new type." Hiei made a small noise in response.

"Do you know what type of poison they used?" Hiei inquired.

Kurama sighed. "Yes. Unfortunately, there's no antidote, and I can't see how to make one… I'm working on it, but if this salve work like I want it to, you won't need it – though we should probably have an antidote anyway."

"So, if a person was injured with this type of poison, and they didn't have salves or bandages, they probably wouldn't survive?" Hiei questioned softly.

"In the Makai? It's very unlikely…" Seeing the pain on the small youkai's face, he longed to reassure him, to tell him… but he couldn't.

Kurama finished tending to his injuries in silence.

"Come on, let's go downstairs," Kurama said when he finished and Hiei had put his pajamas back on.

Hiei obligingly followed him downstairs and watched with interest as Kurama began getting out different things, putting them in cups, then putting them in a bowl and mixing them together. He took out a yellow rectangle wrapped in white paper, cut off part of it, unwrapped the larger part, cut it into small pieces and put in a bowl. He then put the bowl in a large box, punched in numbers, and hit another button. Hiei jumped as it gave off light and began to make a sound, the round platter inside with the bowl on it moving around.

"What's it doing?" He queried warily.

Kurama laughed, but then stopped as Hiei shot him a nasty glare. "It's a microwave, Hiei. It gives off heat, which is melting the butter."

"_Not quite right, but close enough,"_ he thought.

"Butter? That yellow rectangle you cut up?" Kurama nodded, taking the butter out as the microwave beeped.

"What are you making?" Hiei wanted to know.

"Pancakes," Kurama replied. "That fluffy bread I was telling you about last night."

Kurama continued to combine the liquid ingredients, then combined all of the ingredients well. He then took one of the measuring cups, scooped up batter, and poured it on the griddle. He repeated this several times until there were six circles on the griddle. They began to cook, emitting a faint, pleasant smell.

He had just put the first plate on the table approximately an hour later when his family came trudging down. Their eyes immediately went to the short, dark boy sitting at the table. Kurama then realized his mistake in not giving Hiei a robe, as the bandages on his arms were visible. He supposed he could tie it to the leg injury preventing him from gym?

"So… this is the exchange student, Suiichi?" Shiori's soft voice questioned.

"Hai, 'Kassan. His name is Hiei."

"A Japanese name? But I thought he was from Russia…"

"Estonia, 'Kaasan. His parents were Japanese, that's part of the reason he wanted to come here. It's also part of the reason he knows Japanese so well." He then turned to Hiei. "Hiei, this is my mother, that's my step father," he pointed to a man, "and that is my step brother. He has the same name as me, remember?"

Hiei nodded. "Ohayo gozaimasu. Nice to meet you."

"You four can talk a little, and I'll finish the pancakes, okay?" Kurama turned away without an answer to finish breakfast.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A long and leisurely breakfast and many questions later, Hiei and Kurama were out the door and on their way to Genkai's temple.

"I'm truly sorry," Kurama apologized. "I didn't realize they'd have so many questions your first morning here… I thought they'd try to make you feel more comfortable."

"It would have been nice if you hadn't left me with them alone for so long while you did… whatever you did."

"I cooked breakfast. Again, I'm sorry, I didn't think they'd ask so many questions."

They arrived at the bottom of the stairs. They both walked up them, as Kurama didn't want Hiei flitting up the steps with his injuries.

When they arrived, they were the second ones there. Kuwabara was there first to visit Yukina. Yuusuke showed up about twenty minutes later, fifteen minutes late.

When they finally all got settled, they began to talk. The first question came from Yuusuke.

"So… what do we do now?"

* * *

Gah! Crappy ending! Crappy ending! -twitches- This chapter did turn out to be longer than I thought it would, luckily. Anywho… review responses! 

**Kracker Lace: ** Yes, critics are good and necessary. More sulking should be happening. But… You thought he was talking too much? I thought he was barely talking. -shrugs- But he is kind of disoriented by everything that's been happening, so he is a bit more open than normal.

**hieikoibito: **Not Russian. Estonian. Estonia is a real country on the border of Russia. I don't know what they speak there… Also, a beta-reader is like an editor, I believe.

**dimonyo-anghel: **Maybe if someone always says this in a review, and I agree to it in the response we can get this in all the other chapters: Yes, Hiei is a cutie.

**Red Kitsune Flames: **The dragon blood and the idea that dragons hate being in debt (they actually hate it so much they call it a boon, which is a synonym for debt with slightly different connotations) comes from Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. I don't know if it has a basis in mythology or not. I just liked the idea. Also, I strongly recommend the book, as well as the other two in the trilogy. They are good.


	6. Begin: Trust

Erm… See my profile for why this took so long to get out…

Warning: This chapter contains material which may be unsuitable for some readers.

_Lunarmercury Presents:_

_**Voleurs**_

**Chapter Six: **** Begin: Trust**

In the end, it turned out there wasn't much they could do at the time. They had some schematics of the fortress, but it was so heavily fortified, they weren't quite sure how to get past the walls and into the main building. Even if they somehow managed to do so, they wouldn't be able to deal much damage; for all they knew, the leaders and important people were elsewhere, with only soldiers staying there to keep them out of the way. Hiei found that he could not help much – he had been almost entirely uninvolved with any planning, and he had not been told exactly who was in charge. He admitted that, while he might recognize them if he saw them, he could not name the leaders and tell about them.

Of course, Genkai would never let any trip to her temple be a waste – not when it was simply so much work to get there (or so her students claimed). So, immediately after adjournment of the meeting, Genkai took Yuusuke outside for some "training," which mostly consisted of him being pummeled by the older woman. Kuwabara was going to stay inside to help Yukina clean up, but he never could pass up an opportunity to see Yuusuke getting pounded. Kurama, noticing how Hiei kept glancing at Yukina, excused himself to go outside and watch as well, as both Koenma and Botan disappeared to go to Reikai and continue their work.

"Do you not want to go outside and watch?" Yukina questioned him softly.

"Eh… no, I… I'm not interested," he muttered astounded at how he could become so flustered around his twin. She was just his sister, he shouldn't be so nervous!

He hesitated a bit, before asking, "Do you need any help?" He gestured to the dishes she was gathering, a slight flush coloring his cheeks. '_Idiot,'_ he scolded himself. '_There's no need to be so nervous about asking that! It's not as if she'd turn you down out of dislike! The only reason she would refuse is politeness!_'

He needn't have worried, though, as Yukina smiled, saying "Oh, yes! That would be very kind of you. Thank you very much."

Hiei just nodded in response, gathering some dishes and following her as she carried them into the kitchen. He stared a bit at the enormous sink, but Yukina noticed and giggled, before explaining that Genkai washed not only dishes in the sink, but also larger household things and antiques that she either bought or discovered in the temple as well.

After they had finished gathering the dishes and setting them to the side of the sink, Yukina offered, "Why don't you wash them and I'll dry them and put them away?" Hiei agreed, since he didn't know where anything went. Yukina filled the sink with warm, soapy water, then handed Hiei a dish rag as well as a slightly tougher sponge in case some things stuck to the dishes. They worked in silence for a while, before Hiei ventured to ask, "How did you come to stay at the temple?"

Yukina hesitated a bit before answering, and Hiei, afraid that he had said something wrong, hastily backtracked. "If you don't want to answer, I mean, I was curious because Koorime don't normally leave the glacier, but I understand if it's difficult to tell…."

The ice maiden laughed slightly at his flustered speech. "You act so differently with the others. Why don't you let yourself be nice like this with them?"

The poor hi-youkai had no idea what to say, of course. Nice? Him? She had looked like she was about to cry when thinking about how she came to be here – _he_ had nearly made her cry, and then he fell all over his words like a fool… How was that "nice"?

The girl seemed to understand that he wasn't going to answer, so she turned back to her drying. "Well… I came to the Ningenkai about seven years ago. I was looking for my brother… and I know, I shouldn't have a brother because I'm Koorime, and they don't have males, but… I just, I do. I was looking for him, and I had been wandering about the Ningenkai for about a year when…" she trailed off, shuddering. "Well, I was captured, and I was… was in… was with that man for about five years before Yuusuke and Kazuma managed to rescue me. They were just in time, too I heard, that he was going to hire some awful people as guards… But, they were in time, and so they were going to escort me home, except I didn't want to go back to the glacier – because I hadn't found my brother yet, you see – so they agreed to let me stay here, where I would be safe." She smiled softly as she rubbed a teacup dry with her towel. "They're very nice. I really do love it here, even if it is a bit warmer than I'm used to…" she trailed off again, before putting a hand to her mouth, eyes wide and expression slightly guilty. "Oh! But I've been so rude, going on and on like that."

"Not really," Hiei assured her, trying to recall some semblance of manners. He had to know how to be polite somewhat… "I asked."

They chatted somewhat about life in Japan – Hiei asking how she liked it at the temple, how she spent her time, etc., Yukina asking about Kurama's family and his accommodations and if he liked the group so far. They had finished the dishes and had moved on to scrubbing the table (Hiei still helping her diligently, though he was sure many people, like Lebia, would have laughed and laughed to see him now – always so rude, and here he was, helping a sweet girl clean the room without even being coerced) when Kurama walked in. Hiei looked up immediately, his expression annoyed at the clearly visible, amused smile on Kurama's face, but didn't openly berate him for fear of Yukina changing her opinion of him from "nice" to "mean."

"It's time to go," he explained softly at Yukina's questioning glance. Hiei bid Yukina a polite farewell, then followed Kurama out the door and down the stairs to the bus stop.

"What was so funny?" Hiei snarled.

"Nothing, nothing," Kurama placated. "It was just interesting, seeing you behave so differently around Yukina."

"Say anymore about and I'll rip out your voice box!" Hiei threatened hotly, and Kurama wisely backed off, sensing that Yukina was a very sore subject with the diminutive demon.

When they returned home approximately forty-five minutes later, Hiei was still in a bad mood. In fact, he had glowered out the window the entire trip, glaring at Kurama when he even began to speak. Kurama sighed. He knew the little youkai was off-balance, being tugged from one world to the next, practically kidnapped by them and then forced to stay _here_, in a world every demon instinctively hated. Still, the boy had seemed to trust him because he had bandaged his wounds, and now it seemed as if that fragile trust was amounting to nothing.

Seeing him sitting on the windowsill and sulking was simply too much for Kurama. He didn't know him very well, but _something_ in him just wanted to comfort the boy, to give him some peace after such a traumatizing week…

Kurama immediately devised a plan. He glided over to where Hiei was sitting on the windowsill. After several failed attempts at conversation, he decided there was no other choice: the plan would have to be enacted.

Whatever Hiei had expected when Kurama started moving towards him, arms slightly open, it certainly wasn't the warm, comforting hug he was now enveloped in. His expression quickly morphed into shock, and he sat there, limp within the gentle embrace. Kurama quickly ended the hug, then muttered a soft apology before hurrying off, probably hoping to avoid a messy, painful death.

Unseen by him, after he left, Hiei wrapped his arms around himself, a small smile forming on his face as he remembered the soft touch.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_Hiei crept nervously towards his leader's tent. The ten-year old boy had not been summoned immed__iately after his botched theft__, as he would have expected, but rather had been told to see the master that night. His heart pounded as he paused outside the tent. Hearing no one, he called out a soft inquiry, and was told to step inside by the gruff voice he associated with his master._

_Once inside, he expected to be greeted by the__ sharp crack of a__ fist – but instead, the master stood, circling around him, as if inspecting the small boy. He began to speak – recounting his failure (his worst yet) and exactly what it had cost them._

_"I think a… shall we say__ a__ mess?... of so great a magnitude deserves a special punishment," he finally finished. Hiei looked up at his master, confusion clouding his feature, before the long expected blow landed on his face, splitting open his __cheek. The force of the blow knocked the child to the ground. He started to get up, only to have his master stop him, before he started tearing at his clothes._

_Hiei wasn't sure what was happening, but it wasn't his usual punishment. His skin crawled, and he had the horrible__ feeling that something inconceivably awful__ was about to happen. To that extent, he did something he hadn't done for years: he fought back._

_It was all for nothing – the master forced him down, his small, naked form writhing against the dirt. He couldn't tell what his master was doing pressed face down to the ground as he was, but it felt like he was fumbling with something – _

_– and then all he was aware of was pain. Pain that started at the base of his spine and spiraled up towards the rest of him, pain that tore at him and choked him and it felt _wrong_, so wrong and dirty and he didn't understand what was happening and why was he doing this? Surely, Hiei thought, he didn't deserve anything __as__ horrible as this, surely his job hadn't been mishandled so badly that he merited this agony…_

_And it kept on going. It wouldn't stop, his master wouldn't stop punishing him and he couldn't handle it, couldn't take it. He felt his grip on reality slipping, but somehow, he felt he couldn't let himself faint, because if he did, he couldn't continue even the small fight he was putting up, and he had to fight so that this wouldn't happen again – this couldn't happen again, because it was simply too much…_

_It stopped. Suddenly, with small spasms, his master finished with him. He felt so strange, and disgusting, and he still didn't understand what had happened, but it was done…_

_Unless it was going to happen again? He panicked, struggling underneath the enormous body, desperate to get loose, until a huge fist cracked down on the back of his head, and he knew no more._

Hiei jerked awake in the bed, panting harshly. That dream… His head dropped into his hands as he trembled. He hated that dream, but he revisited it so often…

A small knock sounded at the door, and he jumped, looking at the clock. Kurama. That was right. It was Monday and six o'clock and Kurama would be coming in to wake him up for school.

Curses. It was actually _after_ six o'clock, and the fox was nothing if not punctual… which meant that he had probably been at the door during at least part of his dream, and heard him talking and thrashing about in his sleep.

Double curses. Why couldn't it have been Sunday? What had happened to Sunday, after all? Oh that's right… Kurama took him to the park, showing him the flowers he secretly tended to, then to a candy store, saying no one should ever be allowed to go to the Ningenkai without trying some of the wonderful sweets they manufactured. They had talked a lot, too… Kurama really was quite an interesting person…

Another knock sounded on the door, brining Hiei back to awareness. "Come in!" he called hastily, rearranging the rumpled sheets. Kurama poked his head in.

"Are you okay?" he queried anxiously. "You sounded distressed…"

"Just a dream," Hiei dismissed.

"I see…" Kurama gave him a dubious look. "Well, you must have been thrashing about quite a bit in your dream… your wounds reopened." Hiei paused, then blinked. It was true – the air was heavy with the scent of blood. How had he not noticed before? Oh right, he was too busy panicking about the nightmare…

Kurama had since disappeared from the room, appearing with a first aid kit stocked with his own special herb salves and pastes, as well as a large bowl of warm water with a cloth draped over the edge. He sat down on the edge of the bed, Hiei scooting over to make room for him, then carefully unwound the soiled bandages. Gently, he washed off the wounds, applied a salve ("Another different kind, hopefully this will finally be the one to help your wounds heal…") and rewrapped the injuries.

"Come on, we have to hurry and eat breakfast or we'll be late," he urged, ushering Hiei downstairs.

They bolted down their breakfast and rushed off to school. They were about two blocks away before Kurama noticed Hiei wasn't carrying anything, at which point they had to run _back_ and grab Hiei's school supplies and lunch, before sprinting to school.

They were wandering down the halls towards the gym a few periods later when Hiei suddenly hissed, "Kurama!"

"What is it?" He responded, glancing down at his small companion.

"Those people," he muttered, pointing to a rather innocuous looking group of three boys and two girls. "I know them. They must be under some sort of illusion, but their ki is definitely that of the auxiliary group."

"Interesting…" Kurama murmured. "I'll be sure to report that to Koenma."

Hiei nodded, glancing back towards the cluster of human-disguised demons, only to find that they were gone.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A few days never sounds like a very long time. For Hiei, however, each day felt like a year, a very pleasant year with a kind fox to show him little pleasures in life. There were video games, movies, books – many, many things Hiei had never been able to experience. There was even, Kurama announced excitedly, a carnival the next week, and he set about making little carnival games in the back yard to show Hiei what it was like. He was so _nice_, and he genuinely wanted to help Hiei… Kurama told Hiei stories about his life, he held long philosophical conversations, he became… Hiei's friend. Hiei was having the best time of his life, and somehow… somehow, the knowledge that he had lost his one friend hurt a little less knowing that he was slowly but surely gaining another. Kurama comforted him when he had nightmares; he even snuck in a few more hugs, always creating a shell-shocked Hiei… but one day, when Kurama was looking sad, Hiei snuck in a hug of his own, and Kurama not only welcomed the hug, but hugged back, and that simple gesture from one normally so closed off seemed to make a world of difference to the kitsune.

Even school was interesting for the small demon – he spent a good deal of it confused, never having had any sort of proper schooling before, but Kurama explained things to him, and Hiei found it amusing and actually quite engaging.

It would have been practically perfect, had Hiei not kept spying those same demons throughout the school. Kurama acknowledged that he could sense their ki, but he couldn't engage them in school and he never could find them outside of school. In fact, they all seemed to disappear as soon as one glanced away.

It was as Hiei was walking down the hall one day alone that he felt a small prick in the back of his neck. He reached back, but couldn't feel anything embedded in there. Turning slowly, he just barely caught a glimpse of a magenta skirt before it vanished around the corner. Growling, he hurried up to Kurama, told him what happened and, as he rubbed his neck in irritation, Kurama snapped, "Here, let me look at it!" He couldn't find anything, but decided inwardly that he would keep an eye on it – nothing good could come of that.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Kurama sighed, turning over once again in his bed. It was late – the clock on his beside table said 1:10 – but he couldn't sleep. His bed was placed against the wall next to Hiei's room, and Hiei's bed was along the same wall, so he could clearly hear the boy tossing and turning, whimpering in his sleep, caught in the throes of a nightmare. Kurama sighed, before sitting up and kicking off his covers, swinging his feet over the edge of the bed before sliding them into slippers and sneaking out of his room.

He knocked on the door – softly, so as not to wake the rest of his family, but more than loud enough that Hiei should have been able to hear. He frowned at the lack of response, knocking a bit more firmly. After waiting for several moments and receiving no response, he eased the door open before slipping inside.

Once inside, he clearly saw why Hiei hadn't answered his knock. He was lying on the bed, blankets kicked off part of his body and twisted around other parts. He carefully sat down on the edge of the bed, placing his hand on the soft cheek, then the back of his neck. His countenance quickly formed a frown – his skin was cool to the touch, almost cold, but Hiei was a fire demon. His skin should have always been warm, on the verge of hot.

Hiei's eyes cracked open, confusion clouding the rutilant orbs, before his gaze landed on Kurama. He murmured something soft and undoubtedly garbled, and even Kurama's sharp hearing couldn't catch what he said. Kurama gently smoothed back his hair whispering soft words of comfort, and Hiei relaxed into the covers.

Kurama had just begun to check him over to try and determine the sickness when a weak, petulant voice stopped him.

"'m cold," Hiei mumbled faintly.

"I know you are, Hiei," Kurama soothed. "Just rest and I'll help you get warm again, okay?"

"How?"

"You're sick, and I'll make you better. Now, lie still and try to go to sleep, okay? I'll wake you up if I have medicine you to take."

Kurama held his breath, hoping his line of reasoning would convince Hiei. When he muttered "'kay," and closed his eyes, Kurama breathed a sigh of relief.

He quickly determined it was poison, and, after noting the discoloration about the puncture wound, decided he needed some more of his plants in order to solve the mystery of exactly what was wrong with Hiei.

Upon rising to leave, though, a small hand caught onto his shirt.

"Don't go," a tiny voice pled.

"Don't worry," Kurama attempted to assuage. "I'll be right back. I promise." He gently tucked the blankets around his tiny friend, then turned to leave.

He had just reached the door when he heard the padding of small feet. Kurama turned around with a sigh. "Hiei, you have to rest."

Hiei shook his head stubbornly. "'m coming with you," he insisted. Kurama sighed, but gently lifted him into his arms, cradling him carefully. The smaller boy tucked his head into the crook of Kurama's neck, relaxing slightly.

Kurama gently laid Hiei down on his bed, but Hiei had fisted his hands in his shirt and refused to let go. Sighing once more, Kurama settled down on the bed next to Hiei and cautiously began to disentangle his hands, worried about hurting him in his delicate state.

'_He's so sick…_' Kurama thought sadly. '_What on earth did they poison him with? He's bruising so easily…_ _I feel like I could accidentally snap one of his bones__ just__ by trying to pry his fingers off…_' He was immensely relieved when he managed to free himself from Hiei's grip without hurting him further – the poison had greatly weakened his body, and Kurama knew injuries would be ridiculously easy to inflict on the fire demon at this point in time.

Several minutes later, Kurama had once again gathered all of his supplies. The bowl of water on his beside table was steaming hot, and he soaked a rag in it before sponging the demon's forehead. Hiei sighed happily at the warmth, obviously greatly appreciating it, and Kurama left one rag on his forehead and another behind his neck to try and keep him warm.

It was after hours of hard work at about four in the morning that Kurama finally managed to synthesize an antidote. He took the limp arm of his friend in hand, then injected it directly into his bloodstream. He felt he could have cried with relief as Hiei's temperature gradually rose, his skin regained its normal pallor and his breathing evened and regulated. Lying down next to his friend, Kurama quickly dropped off to sleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hiei woke slowly, blinking his eyes sluggishly against the bright light. The now familiar, smiling face of Kurama swam into view, the bright green eyes shining with worry, the face haggard with bags below his eyes.

Hiei winced, groaned, and looked over at the clock.

10:30.

Hiei started, trying to get up, but Kurama pushed him back down.

"Calm down," he ordered, and Hiei was really too exhausted to do anything put obey. "You've been unconscious for over a day," Kurama explained. "It's Saturday now. 'Kaasan wanted to get a doctor, but I managed to convince her that it was just a fever and you only needed to sleep it off.

"What happened?" Hiei mumbled, voice hoarse and cracked. He winced as speaking aggravated his parched throat, and Kurama grabbed a glass of water from a nearby table, gently helping Hiei to sit up and drink the room temperature liquid.

"You were poisoned," Kurama murmured. "They must really be worried about you telling us their secrets.

Hiei shrugged. "It's common practice to try and assassinate those who defect, or those who were captured by the enemy." He winced as he tried to stretch his stiff muscles.

"Here, let me help you walk downstairs," Kurama offered. "My family normally scatters on the week-ends anyways, and I managed to convince them to keep up their routine. 'Kaasan will probably be back before too long though, with lots of healthy food if I know her. For now, it would probably be good for you to be up a little bit. You can rest on the couch downstairs."

Hiei accepted the offer, and they gradually, laboriously made their way downstairs. Hiei accepted a light meal of fruit and rice, then sank into the couch cushions.

"We have a meeting at the temple tomorrow," Kurama informed him. "Do you think you can make it? I could always have everyone come here… "

"No, the temple is fine," Hiei assured Kurama. "I just need to – you say "take it easy"? – today, and I think I'll be fine."

Kurama smiled at him. They proceeded to take it easy, with Kurama teaching him (and beating him at) several human games.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The meeting on Sunday was exponentially more productive than the one the previous weak. They had managed to ascertain that the leaders were, in fact, in the fortress they had found. They managed to formulate a strategy that stood a good chance of actually _working_. Hiei frowned, pointing out some things they had missed, and adding the occasional comment to improve the plot.

When the long meeting finally ended, everyone but Hiei and Yukina ambled outside to enjoy the pleasant weather. Yukina was going back to the kitchen to prepare a sort of lunch/dinner combination for the group. Hiei offered to help, and she gladly accepted. No matter how he had warned himself not to get close to her, not to become her friend, he simply couldn't help it. Something drew him to her, and besides, it would have been rude not to offer to help, right? Right.

Hiei and Yukina had just finished washing the vegetables and begun to chop them up when Hiei sensed several foreign ki signatures heading in their direction. His eyes widened as he detected a massive amount of energy heading straight for them.

"Down!" he shouted, tugging Yukina down to the floor with him just as an enormous ki blast went whizzing through where they had been standing and crashed though the wall.

"Well, shoot, I wanted to take your head off nice and quick," a slender water sprite grinned.

"Don't be too disappointed," a tall, heavily muscled demon commented as he dropped down next to his companion. "After all, we have to find out exactly what the traitor told them." Several more demons, ranging in size and strength congregated in front of Hiei. He snarled – if only he had his katana! But no, even though he was clearly risking his life to help them, Reikai considered it too much of a risk. At least he had some of his hidden weapons, but not many… only a couple of daggers. This was _not_ shaping up well, especially since he was still weak from the poison. His only hope was the Tantei… who he could hear banging on the door and trying to get inside. There was a familiar discharge of energy – Yuusuke's rei gan – but it failed to break the wall. '_How…?_' He wondered, a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Didn't think we'd let them help you, now, did you?" One of the smaller males sneered. "Oh no, I set up a barrier around the temple first thing."

Hiei swore, a long combination of very nasty words that could have blistered paint and made sailors blush.

They all seemed to attack at once. Hiei became a whirl, sliding both daggers out of their sheaths at the same time and blocking attacks, slicing and slashing at his opponents. He caught a foot heavily in the ribs, but retaliated with his own attacks, a series of kicks and jabs that sent his foe sailing through the hole in the wall.

Interesting. So things could get out but not in?

"Yukina, run!" He shouted at the petrified Koorime, trying desperately to keep them all away from her. She nodded, trying to run out the newly made opening in the kitchen, but was blocked. Her eyes widened, comprehending that she was trapped in here. Someone shoved her out of the way – Hiei, Hiei who was standing above her, a blade lodged deep in the arm he had used to block in order to protect her.

"Try another way!" he gritted out, and Yukina ran.

Once she was out of danger, the fighting became even more intense – after all, Hiei didn't have to worry about the ceiling falling in on her now. Unfortunately, he couldn't seem to summon even a wisp of ki. His injuries had healed as a side effect of the antidote Kurama had made for the poison, but his strength wasn't anywhere near full yet.

And that was why he was unable to block or dodge and three attacks hit him at once. His eyes rolled up in his head as he slumped to the floor, bruised and bloody and thoroughly unconscious. The large male who had called Hiei a traitor scooped him up, flinging him over a shoulder roughly, before they left, carrying Hiei off to the main base.

hi-youkai: fire demon

kitsune: fox (Kurama is a fox spirit/ fox demon)

Koorime: a race of all female ice demons. Yukina and Hiei are... actually both Koorime

'Kaasan: Mother

ki: energy


	7. The End

**Please read this author's note! It's rather important! **

Hey everyone! So, it's…it's sure been a while, huh? Uh… well, so here's the story: I was going along, writing up the rough draft in bits and pieces, mostly during state testing that I finished early. It was a bit of rough going, and my interest in Yuu Yuu Hakusho ebbed and flowed, weaving in and out with other fandoms and other interests and original fiction and school work and blah blah blah. But overall, I remained fairly devoted, reading YYH fanfics and telling myself, "Man, I have got to finish _Voleurs_."

And then I fell out of the fandom. Completely. Or, more accurately, another fandom usurped the position, murdering my interest in Yuu Yuu Hakusho stone cold dead.

Well. It's been almost two years since I wrote the following portion of chapter (as I said, mostly during state testing, so in little scraps over several days). My writing style has changed…tremendously, and I hope for the better. I have _also_ forgotten a lot of stuff about Yuu Yuu Hakusho. I have little grasp of the characters, the storylines, the fan theories, the common conventions – even my own plan for this story. For that, I offer my deepest apologies. I know people have favorited me. I know I'm even on people's alert lists. I am indescribably flattered and honored that people find this story so enjoyable and worthy of their precious time and attention. Unfortunately, I am no longer pleased with it. It's just not the kind of thing I would normally write, and as I said, I _cannot_ deliver an end to this chapter. It's simply not in me, not in my head anymore. This is not up to my normal standards, especially since it's really just a rough draft and it's old and I can't edit it because I've lost my interest and knowledge in and of the fandom, and any reworking and edits would only make it _worse_ with my ignorance and lack of characterization and whatnot. Yet I feel I owe it to you – my amazing readers, who, if anyone has stuck with it and actually bothers to read the chapter, I will be awestruck and unbelievably grateful, because it's more than I deserve – to make _some_ kind of ending.

So to be clear: This is not really _worse_ writing than my other chapters. It's about on par, I guess. It's just not my style and ability anymore, but if you liked what came before, it's in the same vein. However, this chapter is only partially finished. When I get to the end of my hand-written material, I'll give you the summary I had written up before hand, because I had this loosely planned. I regret that it took me so very long to get this out, and again, I apologize for the inconvenience and the state of this chapter. Yuu Yuu Hakusho just isn't for me any more. I probably won't be starting any more fanfiction, and even finishing my other one (in a fandom that I am still interested in, although it's not the one that pushed out Yuu Yuu Hakusho) is kind of uncertain. I'm working more on original fiction, which likely won't be posted.

So again, thank you to every reader and every reviewer. I adore you all. If you would rip this chapter/story (or, you know, this author's note if you really want to) to shreds, I would immensely appreciate it. But you don't have to. Even a one word review is enough, or no review at all.

Thank you and goodbye.

* * *

Disclaimer: Yuu Yuu Hakusho belongs not to me. Nor do any characters contained herein.

Warning: This chapter contains material that some readers may find disagreeable.

_Lunarmercury Presents:_

**Voleurs**

**Chapter Seven: End  
**

Hiei awoke on cold, hard stone. At first, he had no idea where he was – his initial thoughts were how unlike his small tent this was, or even the somewhat rocky ground he typically slept on outside. He didn't mind so much, though. The stone may have been hard, but the cool smoothness was soothing to his aching, heated flesh. It took him a few moments to reorient himself. Why did he hurt so?

Then his memory started to work. The raid on the bandits, the lack of survivors, his stint with the detectives…

Kurama. Red hair and bright green eyes flashed through his mind. Kurama, who had kept secret his shameful injuries. Kurama, who had tended to him in his poison induced illness. Kurama, who in just one week had managed to befriend him more thoroughly than perhaps any other person.

But this wasn't Kurama's room. Perhaps he had collapsed at the temple? Surely they would have moved him to a futon – but they couldn't, they couldn't get to him, there was a force-shield…

Hiei's eyes snapped open as the last memory flashed into place. Force-shield. Battle. _Yukina!_ He jerked upwards abruptly. What had happened? He knew he had been knocked out, but after that…

"Welcome back."

Hiei's head snapped around. He knew that voice – that cold voice, the voice that had laughed as a pathetic ten-year-old struggled beneath its owner's bulk.

"Impossible…" he breathed, his crimson eyes widening steadily. "You're dead!" His shocked look morphed into a hateful, heated glare. His lips pulled back in a snarl, teeth bared as an ugly look overtook his features.

"Clearly, your information was wrong," the man drawled mockingly. "Though it did seem we died, here we are, safe and sound… all of those important enough to be saved." The last words were spoken with a sneer, and Hiei flinched at their implication.

'Lebia…' he thought mournfully. Lebia was dead, really dead for good – yet here stood his old master. The leader of the bandits, the man who tormented him for all of these years, stood in front of him, whole and uninjured.

"Well I'll fix the mistake!" Hiei hissed. He gave no warning before he attacked – but the man who stood in front of him was the one thief at his former home he had never been able to best. In his weakened, injured state, he didn't stand a chance.

Hiei fell painfully to the ground, having been literally knocked out of the air.

"So little time away, and already you've forgotten your place," Hiei's "master" said, affecting a scolding air. "I think perhaps you should relearn it…"

"You stay away from me!" Hiei said, panicked. Already, he had scrambled into a crouch. Maybe he couldn't stop what was going to happen, but he was going to fight.

"How enjoyable," the master smirked to himself. "It has been so long since someone put up a proper fight, and you always were so good at it."

Hiei shuddered and braced himself.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Yukina tried again to get up from her chair. She was again unsuccessful.

"Please!" she pleaded, red eyes wide. "Please, I really want to help!"

"Absolutely not!" Kuwabara insisted firmly. "I, Kuwabara Kazuma, will fix this for Yukina-san! Don't worry about anything!"

Yukina sighed to herself and decided to give up. She wasn't going to succeed, and she was a little woozy from getting knocked out.

Kurama, of course, noticed the sigh. "Yukina-san, are you feeling better now?"

"Oh! Yes, much better, thank you," she assured him. "I just…I'm so worried about Hiei-san. He was ever so kind to me, and the thought that he might be hurt…" Her eyes shone brightly with unshed tears.

"Don't worry, Yukina-san," Kurama said, trying to placate the Koorime before Kuwabara murdered him for making her cry. "We'll find him and bring him back, I promise."

She sniffled a bit, then nodded. "I'm going to go lay out my healing supplies," she murmured softly, hurrying out into the hallway.

It was short work gathering the cloth and salves and various other supplies, but she allowed her mind to wander, extending the task. Placing the supplies around the futon she made up for Hiei, she handled each object with care, her hands lingering on the bottles and packages. At length, after she sat there limply staring into space, she reached into a kimono sleeve and pulled out a hiruseki. It was a birth-gem, hanging from a severed string. She had found it lying next to her upon waking, and so had immediately picked it up, thinking it was hers and that she would have to repair it. However, it didn't take long for her to realize that her hiruseki necklace was still intact, the gem resting on her chest like always. At first, she couldn't fathom where it had come from, but after some pondering, it hit her.

Hiei.

Hiei, the mysterious new guest who was so nice to her… Well, perhaps he didn't know she was his sister, or perhaps he thought that she would accept passing help from him, but never a brother – not when he had been her friends' enemy.

But Kurama had said that he was forced into it, and he was so terribly sweet… her hand tightened around the gem. She would return it and get the truth. Her brother was not escaping her now.

Mind made up, she set to work repairing the damaged necklace.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Botan-san," Kurama said politely. "What brings you here?"

"Koenma-sama has a message for you," Botan informed them in her normal, chipper voice. She extended her hand, a small disc flat on her palm. It gave a small whir, Koenma's image floating above it.

"This mission is an incredibly serious one," he began in his odd, quasi-toddler voice.

"Aren't they always?" Yuusuke muttered sarcastically. Kurama could have sworn he saw the recording glare in Yuusuke's general direction.

"As you are no doubt aware, the survivor you brought back from your previous mission has been kidnapped."

Yuusuke opened his mouth, to make another sarcastic comment, but Kurama held up a hand, forestalling him.

"It has already been several hours since this happened, most of them dedicated to taking down the kekkai surrounding the temple. In this time, we have managed to locate the enemy's new base of operations. Your mission is to break in there and rescue Hiei. It is short notice, but he has been helping us plan. As such, he knows _everything_. It is imperative that we retrieve him before they learn our plans from him. Botan will open a portal and deposit you near the base. I would recommend stealth."

Without so much as a word of good-bye, the image shut off, leaving the tantei to gape.

"I believe I should go alone," were the first soft words spoken. Their heads snapped to Kurama.

"What?" Yuusuke cried. "No way! That's way too dangerous!"

"You heard Koenma, Yuusuke!" Kurama snapped. "This requires stealth. I am a master thief. I can rescue him without anyone ever knowing I was there."

Yuusuke scowled, but Kurama continued on before he could speak.

"Furthermore," he continued, his voice calm, "I will be taking one of the pocket communicators with me. If there is a problem, I will contact you." He turned to Botan. "Shall we go?"

And with that, he strode off, leaving Botan to scurry after him and Yuusuke to stand there for a few seconds, stunned, before following, ranting about how it was too dangerous. Kuwabara, taking offense at being left out, decided that he wanted to accompany them – after all, it _was_ a mission and he _was_ a tantei…

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Just over an hour later, Kurama crept towards the castle alone. He had left Kuwabara and Yuusuke still yelling (at each other, in fact; the two always manage to fight about _something_).

In all honesty, it didn't _look_ like it would be a very difficult job – just the sort of thing he would like to dust off his skills. However…

However, he would much rather be dusting off his skills by retrieving a gem than a friend.

Taking a deep breath, Kurama ran through a checklist one last time, before scaling the wall. Dropping lightly into the courtyard where the soldiers practiced, he stole along unseen. He chose an unlocked window, then crept inside, plants informing him of the lack of guards in that particular stretch of hallway.

Cautiously, Kurama searched room after room. He had started out where he thought the prisoners were kept, but Hiei was nowhere to be found. Eliminating one wing, he moved on to the other. Halfway down the third hall, a door swung open to reveal a tiny room holding only a small, naked form sprawled on the floor.

"Hiei," Kurama breathed, rushing to his friend's side. The petite frame was torn and bruised, body covered in blood and face covered in pain. Gently, he draped his coat over his friend. Kurama started to lift Hiei up, so as to better wrap the coat around him, when Hiei's eyes fluttered open. His gaze immediately landed on Kurama and he simply stared for a moment, uncomprehending.

"Ku…" he rasped out, before a coughing fit overtook him. Blood trickled from the edge of his mouth, and Kurama's concern for the hi-youkai – already high – skyrocketed.

"Shhh," he soothed. "Don't talk. I'm here to take you home, and we'll get you all healed up before coming back and killing them all – for real this time." He had finished wrapping Hiei in the coat by this time, but one thin arm stole its way out of the confines. Hiei clutched at Kurama, burying his face in his shirt and trembling. Kurama rocked him and soothed him the best he could, before murmuring, "We have to go." He felt Hiei's nod, but the small demon made no motion or movement. Gently, Kurama scooped him in his arms and spirited him away to the temple.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Yukina stared down at the sleeping figure in the futon. Her hand gently stroked the spiked, black and white hair. Her tears had stopped falling about fifteen minutes after she finished healing Hiei, but every so often, she would sniffle, or the remnants of a sob would wash through her. In her free hand, Yukina clutched her twin's tear gem, vowing silently to give it back as soon as he woke.

Of course, given that she inwardly re-affirmed that vow every five minutes, it was no surprise that Hiei should happen to stir right after that thought. It was also no surprise – to Yukina, at least – that her nerve threatened to fail her as her twin's matching eyes blinked open. Noticing him looking around with a confused air, she softly informed him, "You're at Genkai's temple."

His eyes immediately snapped to her, and while she was not pleased to see the fear they contained, she was pleased that the fear dissipated immediately upon seeing her. She smiled kindly at him before saying, "I have something to return to you." She withdrew the necklace, then slipped it about his neck.

"Yukina," he started, a tone she couldn't quite place in his voice. "Yukina, I–"

She cut him off. Yes, she _did_ know the tone – fear and anxiety and hope, all of the emotions currently roiling in her stomach. Removing the finger she had placed on his lips, her smile widened a bit.

"It's okay," she told him. "You've been through a lot, you don't have to say anything."

"No, it's–" he cut himself off this time, shaking his head, before starting again, more quietly. "I didn't know how long I could stay." He lifted his previously downcast eyes up to meet hers. "I just, I didn't want to get your hopes up. I didn't want to give you a brother, only to have him be one you didn't want – or one you _did _want, and then have to leave."

Unable to say anything through her tears, Yukina simply wrapped her arms around her brother in a hug, and Hiei returned it as best he could.

* * *

Summary: Hiei stays with Kurama for a couple more weeks as he heals. They grow yet closer, and Hiei works on coming to terms with the trauma he suffered and healing his mental and emotional injuries as well as his physical. The group then reconvenes to plan how to infiltrate and kill the master. They eventually succeed, in glorious Spirit Detective fashion, meaning not at all according to plan and with a lot of explosions and improvising. Yuusuke and Kuwabara become separated from Kurama and Hiei. We follow the latter group, who meet up with Hiei's old master (who is, after all, not the master of the entire plot – they've been answering to another group with its own ruler). After an arduous battle and a near-mental breakdown (coupled with some not entirely sane attacks) from Hiei, they succeed in dealing him a messy and painful death. They then meet up with Yuusuke and Kuwabara, who have defeated the big bad at serious risk to life and limb. The day is saved, they all return to human world, everybody's happy.

In the end, Hiei flits between worlds, enjoying his freedom – a long time in coming – in the demon world, while visiting Kurama and staying in the temple with Yukina during his frequent visits to human world. It's implied that, were the detectives to be called again to deal with burgeoning apocalypses and whatnot, Hiei would be part of that group.

Happily ever after.

Until the next adventure.


End file.
